City youth bags national award: Minister Kiren Rijiju

Visakhapatnam: Amidst stiff competition, Gattem Venkatesh , a micro artist from the port city bagged National Youth Award from the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju on Monday, in New Delhi.

The award was conferred to 20 youths and those belonging to three organisations for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields on the occasion of the International Youth Day.

Besides a Guinness Record holder, Venkatesh had won more than 90 awards. Apart from perusing his dreams in the field of art, the young artist also has mentored more than 15,000 students for free of cost.

"I have conducted art workshops in more than 80 schools, mostly from rural areas and government school of AP. I trained them by conducting art awareness campaign on sculpting and miniature art. That's how I got nominated for this award in the category of art," says Venkatesh.